{"id":24099,"date":"2017-06-13T10:09:36","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T15:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.crowdspring.com\/?p=24099"},"modified":"2023-07-03T19:11:27","modified_gmt":"2023-07-04T00:11:27","slug":"startup-small-business-branding-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/startup-small-business-branding-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Important Lessons Your Startup Or Small Business Can Learn From The World’s Best Brands"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Brand building at-scale can be different than brand building for a startup or small business. Nevertheless, smart entrepreneurs and small business owners pay careful attention to important market forces and trends that shape some of the world\u2019s best brands.<\/p>\n

WPP<\/a> and Kantar Millward Brown<\/a> just released their latest BrandZ report on the most valuable global brands. The 2017 Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0offers important branding lessons for startups and small business.<\/p>\n

Before we get to the lessons from the 2017 report, we want to be sure that there’s no confusion about the term “brand.”\u00a0Some entrepreneurs and business owners believe that a brand is merely their company’s name and logo.<\/p>\n

This is only partially true. The name of your company and your logo are two important elements of your brand, but your brand is more than the\u00a0company name<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0logo<\/a>. As I wrote previously,<\/p>\n

A brand is the sum total of the experience your prospects and customers have with your company. A strong brand communicates what your company does, how it does it, and at the same time, establishes trust and credibility with your prospects and customers. Your company\u2019s brand is, in many ways, its personality. Your brand lives in everyday interactions your company has with its prospects and customers, including the images you share, the messages you post on your website, the content of your marketing materials, your presentations and booths at conferences, and your posts on social networks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here are the five key highlights from the 2017 report, containing important branding and marketing lessons for small businesses and startups.<\/p>\n

1. Plan For The Future While Focusing On Today.<\/h2>\n

The most successful brands in the world spend a substantial amount of time planning future products and services. This is important because successful, lasting brands help to anticipate and help to create the future.<\/p>\n

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For example, only three brands that appeared in the top 10 in 2006 – Google, Microsoft, and IBM – remain in the top 10 in 2017. As the report notes,<\/p>\n

These technology leaders demonstrate the ability of relatively young brands, like Google and Microsoft, and heritage brands, like IBM, to be relevant, each in its own way: Google primarily with search and constant innovation; Microsoft with the versatility of its Surface devices and its expanding cloud business; and IBM with its reinvention, cloud focus, and cognitive computing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many entrepreneurs and small business owners myopically look only at the present, focusing on short-term profits at the expense of long-term growth and success. Although short-term growth can be tempting, it rarely justifies ignoring long-term goals.<\/p>\n

Amazon offers one of the clearest and strongest examples<\/a> why businesses should focus on long-term goals. Years ago, before Amazon’s Web Services (AWS) and Kindle became as popular as they are today, Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, offered<\/a> this insight:<\/p>\n

Go back in time when we started working on Kindle almost seven years ago. \u00a0There you just have to place a bet. If you place enough of those bets, and if you place them early enough, none of them are ever betting the company. By the time you are betting the company, it means you haven\u2019t invented for too long. If you invent frequently and are willing to fail, then you never get to that point where you really need to bet the whole company. AWS also started about six or seven years ago. We are planting more seeds right now, and it is too early to talk about them, but we are going to continue to plant seeds. And I can guarantee you that everything we do will not work. And, I am never concerned about that\u2026. We are stubborn on vision. We are flexible on details\u2026. We don\u2019t give up on things easily. Our third-party seller business is an example of that. It took us three tries to get the third-party seller business to work. We didn\u2019t give up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Today, AWS is on pace for a $14 billion revenue year<\/a> – just for one relatively new segment of Amazon’s business.<\/p>\n

Are you thinking about the future of your business or is the vast majority of your time focused on today?<\/p>\n

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